Mountain Men: Tom Hu-nts Deer With a Traditional Muzz-leloade

Up in Montana’s Yaak Valley,  today might be Tom Oar’s  last chance  to go after big game. We’ve got a special deer season going on right now, and you’re only allowed to use old-timey gear. [narrator] This late  in the season,  Montana hunters are  prohibited from using  the high-powered  hunting rifles  that give them an outsized  advantage against the deer.

 Instead, it’s back to basics. This is a replica of the old Hawken rifle, the most common rifle used by the mountain men. They have to be old style. They can’t be any of the modern muzzleloaders with telescopic sights. We can’t use any of that. It’s got to be old, traditional muzzleloaders. [narrator] Because  the single-shot rifles make  for a more difficult hunt…

Hey, you guys.  …Tom’s bringing backup. Hey, hiya, buddy. How are you? Good, how are you? -Are you ready for this? -Yeah. -How ’bout you? -Hey, man. Good. [narrator] Sean McAfee and  his ten-year-old son Hank  have learned a lot from Tom  over the years. -Think we can get one? -[Hank] Yeah. [Tom] All right.

 But Hank’s never been on  a single-shot hunt before. You ever see an old muzzleloader like this? I’ve only seen ’em in the movies, but never, like, on this. Single shot, you pour the powder down in the barrel, put the bullet on the barrel and ram it down. That’s really cool. [Tom] This is the powder measure.

 Hank’s pretty sharp. Seeing that he’s ten and I’m 79, I ought to be able to teach him something. [chuckles] Short starter, that’s called. That’s for getting the ball down into the barrel. You ram that ball down on top of that powder. You got it loaded. We got a target set up down there. We’ll check this sucker out.

Good to know if your gun is shooting straight or not. -Yeah. -[Tom laughs] [narrator] A barrel-loading  long gun like this  lacks the rifling that helps  the ball fly straight.  It’s effective  only at short distances. [Tom] I just have open sights,  so you’re just kind of  shooting down the barrel. The muzzleloaders are quite heavy.

So it’s hard to hold it steady. But I feel comfortable shooting it up to 50 yards, but from there it’s pretty icy. [gunshot] Look, we’re in the target. [Sean] Cool. -[Tom] I think we got it. -Right on. -This is gonna be fun. -Yeah, it is. [Sean] Should we load up? -[Hank] Yeah, I’m good. -[Tom] Ready? This is the very end of the deer season.

You’re riding in the middle, I’m not riding in the middle. So I’d like to be successful at putting some deer meat in the freezer.  This is about my last chance. [Sean] Better than going to school today, huh? [Hank] Yeah! [narrator] At a cool 12 degrees,  it’s a good day for a hunt  in the Kootenay Forest. -Ready? -Yeah.

[whispers] All right, let’s do this. [Hank] [Sean] -[Hank] -[Sean] [Tom] Sean works  for Linehan Outfitting.  He’s their number one guide. Get in there and get comfy, all right? What do you think, man? -Looks good. -This’ll work, huh? Yeah. He knows certain spots that have more of a higher deer population in ’em, and stuff like that.

This is comfy. This’ll work good, yeah. It’s got good height for a shooting rest too, you know? [Tom] The deer are so sensitive  and have good noses  and good eyes and ears. It’s hard to walk up on a deer close enough to shoot him, just by walking.  You’re better off  sitting in one spot  and just waiting for deer  movement past you.

If you see one, just don’t jerk your head around like that. Just, if you’re gonna move your head, you know, just watch real slow. We gotta be sneaky about this.  Patience is a real big thing. Most kids you couldn’t set ’em down inside of a blind when it was as cold as what it is.  Now, I mean, we told him  he had to be quiet  and not to move around much,  and he fell right in with it.

[whispers] [Tom] During this late season,  what the rules are,  we can’t shoot does.  You can only shoot bucks.  But the more does you see, there’s a better chance of seeing a buck. All we need is a buck. [narrator] Three hours deep  into a stakeout… This sure got slow, didn’t it? Sure has. Not much going on.

 …Tom, Sean, and young Hank  are still in need  of a buck sighting. You guys ought to just go out and go for a walk. [Sean] Sure. Then you could make a big circle around, and I’ll just hang out here. Sure. Maybe we’ll move something your way anyway. Get something out of its bed or something gets moving by the blind here or maybe we could even see one.

-Okay. -[Sean] Yeah. Okay. -See you in a little bit. -Okay. They’re gonna walk out and just make some big swings around us, see if they can push something by me,  or maybe make a little bit  more deer movement. [Sean whispers] Before we work our way back to Tom, let’s sit down here and rattle, okay, buddy? [narrator] The rattling  sound of antlers  signals to any bucks in  the area that a doe is nearby  and worth fighting over.

[whispers] Turn these around. Bang ’em this way. [rattling softly] [Sean whispers] [Sean] Shh! [wind whistling] Did you guys see anything? [Sean] It’s a little buck, Tom. Not too far over here. Why don’t you rattle one more time? See if we can stir it up. [rattling] [rattling continues] [Sean whispers] [narrator] Tom’s finally  within yards of his prize.

[Sean whispers] [narrator] But with  an old Hawken rifle,  he only gets one shot. -[Tom] Uh-oh. -[Sean] I don’t know. [Tom] The smoke that  the black powder rifle creates  kills your image. I mean, you’re looking at the deer down the barrel of the rifle, and when you pull the trigger, boom, there’s blue smoke in your way.

Well, we were standing right behind that tree there. [Sean] Let’s go, uh… Let’s go check for blood anyhow. Here’s where he was standing, right behind this tree. [Hank] Yeah, he was, like, right here. [Sean] No blood there, huh? [Tom] I don’t see any blood. I see some tracks around down there. [Hank] I think you hit the tree.

[Tom chuckles] [Sean] Look at that. Look at that, you missed by two inches. [Tom chuckles] Perfect height for his vitals. [Tom] The ball from the shot  hit the tree. Well, at least we didn’t hurt him. Right, pal? Yeah, at least we shot the tree. The deer was behind the tree, and it actually hit the tree.  Is it luck for you  when you kill one,  or is it luck for the deer  when you miss? You know, it’s hunting.

Well… [Sean] What do you think? I guess that’s kind of the end of it. We had… We had our chance.  Muzzleloaders, you got  one shot. That’s it. -That was a strange deal. -[Sean] Yeah. There’s no quick load, we could shoot again. Usually, if you miss with that first shot, it’s… it’s gone, you know? Might as well call it a night, huh? Probably.

We can always come back tomorrow. Sounds good, man. -[Tom] All right. -Okay. [Tom] If we knew  all we had to do  was just go out  and shoot once, then you’d killed your deer, well, that might take some of the excitement out of it. I mean, that’s why they call it hunting. But there’s always a chance that the next time is gonna be successful.